


What You Need in the Middle of the Night

by knotted



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Some Swearing, a oneshot for now, au i guess, but it ended up working nicely!, not originally for bughead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 04:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12183267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knotted/pseuds/knotted
Summary: When Betty's upset she shows up at Juggie's window, and he'll let her in no matter how muddy her shoes are. She should be in love with him, but she's Archie's, and that's okay with Jughead... He can be her safe haven. Right?





	What You Need in the Middle of the Night

Betty showed up at Jughead’s bedroom window at one thirty in the morning. In the moonlight, with mascara men racing down her cheeks and her jean jacket held up over her as a shield from the rain, she was the visual definition of an angel. She was forcing a smile. (Jughead knew better than anyone else what that looked like.) He wanted to take a photo, but she wasn’t going to last longer outside. She was losing height, sinking into the mud. Still without having said anything, he helped her get inside. 

Betty stood by Jughead’s open bedroom window, water dripping from her hair and clothes, and shoes so muddy that Jughead could already tell that his mom was going to have a panic attack once she saw it (of course, he also knew that once he mentioned Betty having something to do with it, his mom would soften and hand him cleaning supplies). Jughead grabbed towels of various sizes from the closet in the hall outside of his room, and handed them to his best friend, who had been sniffling and breathing unevenly since she appeared outside. 

Betty wrapped herself in a towel and placed the rest on the floor, and began taking off her shoes, tights, and jean jacket, each put on a towel, flat to dry. Once she was down to her blue dress, she looked to Jughead (who had been sitting on his bed, staring anywhere except for at her) and with pursed lips began to tear up. Jughead ran over to her, wrapped his arms around her, and put his face into her soaked hair. He could change his clothes, anyway.

“Th-This is so stupid, I’m so sorry,” Betty said shakily, pushing Jughead away. He wanted to hug her more. She was too cold. He could warm her up. “Um, could I use your shower?” He nodded and watched her walk away, and then she turned around to ask if she could borrow something to wear. 

“Uh, yeah, of course,” he said. She smiled flatly at him. “Take your pick,” he tried to say, coolly and breezily. For as long as they had been friends, Betty had had to borrow his clothes more than a few times, but it did not make each time less awkward, especially when the realization of his more-than-friendly feelings for her. When they were younger, Jughead’s clothes had fit Betty well (and vice versa), but then in middle school, Jughead had a growth spurt that Betty never caught up to. 

At his drawers, Betty chose a plain T-shirt and his 'S' sweater. Both would be a little too long for her. She sighed and turned to Jughead with a small smile (it was a tired one, it was the one that she'd give him after cram sessions for huge exams, or after fights with her mom), then left the room.

Jughead had been up working on a letter for his dad, who had finally established some sort of contact. The letter arrived weeks ago, but Jughead shoved the idea of replying to the bottom of his to-do list, because as much as he loved his dad, he had a hard time coming up with anything to say to the man. While waiting for Betty, he stared at what he had to reply to. There were scratch marks over sentences, and questions, and pictures of the amazingly faraway city that would be his dad’s home for the months to come. He should have had so much to say about any of it, but he wanted his dad to read something special, and none of that was coming out. The possibility of any sort of amazing spilling out of him was diminished now, because Betty was here, and she was crying. 

He didn’t notice that Betty had come out of the bathroom. She had a towel around her neck.

“Hi,” she said when she caught Jughead’s gaze. 

“Good shower?” he asked. He quickly packed away what his dad sent, and the many beginnings of letters. Betty would make a big deal out of it, because she was caring and supportive. It was Jughead’s turn to be that for her right now. 

“Yeah, definitely. I needed it,” she said. Jughead tried to ignore how cute she looked in his clothes, but damn it he was a teenage boy and he was at least going to say something about it. 

“You should keep that sweater. It looks better on you,” he said. Betty smiled, looking a little embarrassed. “So I’m guessing you didn’t walk all the way across town just to take a shower, right?” he asked, trying to be gentle. 

“Oh, so we’re just gonna dive right into it?” She got onto Jughead’s bed and sat crosslegged, in the spot where the bed meets the corner of the room. She bit her top lip down while nodding. “Um, okay, yeah, I was having dinner with Archie and then… He broke up with me.” She tilted her head to the side. Jughead didn’t know what to say. He climbed onto the bed to be closer to her. He wanted to kiss her more than anything now, and it felt like all different kinds of wrong. 

“He’s missing out,” he said as soon as he noticed Betty crying. 

Archie and Betty had gotten together in ninth grade, after a year of “will they? Won’t they?” Junior year without the power couple of their grade seemed rather odd to think about at the time. 

“We were supposed to have a happy ending, we were supposed to be the exception to high school sweethearts never lasting… We’re so... alike… Why didn’t it work out?” she asked, looking up at Jughead as if he had all of the answers. She looked like a little kid that just found out Santa wasn't real. Her green eyes were so wide and catching the dull moonlight beautifully... Where was that camera? 

“I never thought you were alike,” he whispered, moving so he’d be able to wrap an arm around her. He leaned against the wall and she made herself comfortable with her head on his shoulder. “It always seemed like… I don’t know, you guys were reading out of different books that kind of had the same plot line.” He felt her turn her head to him. 

“What does that mean?” 

“It’s like… You were compatible enough, and you had points that were similar, but you were always missing each other at the most important things.” She went quiet. He didn’t know if he was supposed to give examples, but he could’ve. 

Betty loved people, and she strived to help them. She and Archie were both all about saving and helping people, but Archie was a brute force that used fists and looming, and she was handing out sandwiches at the homeless shelter and helping injured bees off of the sidewalk. 

“We were really good together, Jug, and we wouldn’t have even gotten together if you didn’t tell me to just stop being so scared and just talking to him about it. Fuck, it was so easy to talk to him, and he made me so happy. It was really stupid, but I was so sure we were gonna last forever.” 

“You’re sixteen, you probably shouldn’t be planning ‘forever’,” Jughead said, only wanting Betty to plan a ‘forever’ with him, “and he’s not as special as you are. He wasn’t supposed to stick around for that long. He was a face, and you’re… A lot.” Betty laughed. 

“You always know what to say. That’s why I love you,” she said, sleepily. 

“That’s what I’m here for, Betts.” He paused before asking “why did Arch break up with you?” 

“It was starting to feel 'forced', or something like that,” she scoffed. “It wasn’t totally ridiculous, I just… Didn’t see it coming.”

“Did you feel the same way?” 

“I didn’t understand what he was talking about at the time, but…” She yawned and slid out of Jughead’s hold. “I’m really tired, could we talk about this later?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, watching as she tucked herself in. “Your parents won’t freak out, right?” 

“I texted them. They think I'm at V's. It’ll be fine even _if_ they figure it out,” she said, “they trust you more than they ever trusted Archie.” After a lot of silence, Betty said, “I really wanted him to like me.”

“He’s crazy not to,” he replied, and then after turning off the light, settled into bed. There was a lot of silence. 

“Why can’t more guys be like you, Juggie?” 

“I thought we were gonna talk about this later,” he said. 

“I can’t wait ’til later anymore. Why can’t more guys be like you?” 

“If more guys were like me, there’d be less dating in the world, trust me.” 

“I don’t get it.” 

_Guys like me don’t get the girl often,_ he thought. He decided not to say it. 

“Sometimes, Jughead, I feel like… I don’t know, I feel like I should be with someone like you,” she said. Jughead looked over at her. They had forgotten to shut the window, and the mixed light from the moon and the orange street lamps was consuming her. She breathed sharply. “Maybe I should’ve been with you.” 

  


Jughead didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. He just got up to close the window and draw the curtains. He heard sheets moving and when he turned around, Betty was sitting up. Jughead didn’t go back to bed yet. He prolonged the task of closing windows and curtains. 

“Back in middle school, Jughead? When you liked me? I know you thought you were being slick but it was obvious. You were so overprotective.”

“A guy can be overprotective without being in love,” he interjected.

“Everyday you told me you loved me more than anyone else,” she said. 

“I still say that,” he said. 

“Not as much as you used to,” she said, and he could tell how she was hesitating. “Am I just really conceited?” He didn’t say anything. “Fuck, I am, aren’t I?” she asked with a slight laugh, “Obviously, I am, I mean… You have… Forget I said anything. I… Yeah, sorry. Good night,” she said, and he watched as her silhouette melted into the sheets. Jughead started walking over to the bed. 

"You're right," he said softly. 

"What?" she said, copying his almost-whisper.

“You’re right, I just didn’t think you noticed,” he said. 

“I’ve known you since first grade, Jughead, I notice a lot about you,” she said, “and Ronnie tells me a lot more than you think.” 

“Why did you come here instead of go to her? Was I closer?” 

“No,” she replied, “Something told me that this was the place to be when you get your heart broken.” 

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say,” he said, climbing into bed. She hadn’t slept over much since middle school. It stopped being acceptable. 

“That’s okay. I just like it when you say anything,” she replied. “There’s not a lot that you can say to make me stop loving you, Jug.”

“Is that a challenge?” he teased. “Hail Hi-“ She slapped her hand over his mouth. 

“Not a challenge, don’t try,” she said, and he could tell that she was smiling. She moved her hand away. “I should’ve fallen in love with you.” That made Jughead’s heart ache. It made his heart fall into his stomach. It made him feel broken. It made him feel like a second choice, which, maybe, he was.

“Love shouldn’t be a choice. I don’t think we get a say in what happens,” Jughead replied. 

“Yeah, but you make me happy… And he almost made me as happy… Why don’t I love you that way, Jughead?” 

“Maybe it’s my fault,” he said. This hurt. It all hurt. Here, in his bed, in the middle of the night, it was being solidified that Betty would never love him the way that he wants to love her. 

“No, it’s my fault,”

“It’s no one’s fault. I don’t feel that way for you anymore,” he lied. 

“I don’t believe you,” she said.

“That’s your opinion,” he said, turning over to face her. And immediately, he was greeted by his first kiss with the enigmatic Betty Cooper. And maybe it didn't mean anything, maybe it was just to make her feel safe and wanted, but it was what Betty needed that night, and that was all Jughead ever wanted to be.


End file.
